26 Jun 2013

Court crisis at Wimbledon?

London - Seven players were knocked out of Wimbledon on Wednesday by withdrawals or mid-match retirements in what was believed to be a record number of casualties in one day at a Grand Slam tournament in the 45-year Open era.

Second-seeded Victoria Azarenka and sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were among the players departing on Day 3 at the All England Club.

Also out: Steve Darcis, the man who stunned Rafael Nadal in the first round; John Isner, who won the longest match in tennis history at Wimbledon in 2010; 10th-seeded Marin Cilic; 2006 quarterfinalist Radek Stepanek; and Yaroslava Shvedova.

The International Tennis Federation said it believed the previous high total for one day at a major tournament was five, which happened on the first day of competition at Wimbledon last year, June 25.

Results at Wimbledon from the third day of Wimbledon (x denotes seeded player):

Men's singles:

Second round:
Lukasz Kubot (POL) bt Steve Darcis (BEL) - walkover
Benot Paire (FRA x25) bt Stphane Robert (FRA) 6-4, 7-5, 6-4
Adrian Mannarino (FRA) bt John Isner USA x18) 1-1 - retired
Dustin Brown (GER) bt Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2
Nicolas Almagro (ESP x15) bt Guillaume Rufin (FRA) 7-5, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-4
Jerzy Janowicz (POL x24) bt Radek Stepanek (CZE) 6-2, 5-3 - retired
Ernests Gulbis (LAT) bt Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA x6) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 0-0 - retired
Fernando Verdasco (ESP) bt Julien Benneteau (FRA x31) 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/4), 6-4
Kenny De Schepper (FRA) bt Marin Cilic (CRO x10) - walkover
Viktor Troicki (SRB) bt Andrey Kuznetsov (RUS) 6-4, 6-3, 6-4
Mikhail Youzhny (RUS x20) bt Vasek Pospisil (CAN) 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (9/7), 3-6, 6-4
Tommy Robredo (ESP x32) bt Nicolas Mahut (FRA) 7-6 (7/3), 6-1, 7-6 (7/5)

Women's singles:

Second round:
Monica Puig (PUR) bt Silvia Soler (ESP) 6-2, 5-7, 6-4
Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP x19) bt Mirjana Lucic (CRO) 1-6, 6-3, 6-3
Alize Cornet (FRA x29) bt Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE) 6-3, 6-2
Flavia Pennetta (ITA) bt Victoria Azarenka (BLR x2) - walkover
Petra Cetkovska (CZE) bt Caroline Wozniacki (DEN x9) 6-2, 6-2
Karin Knapp (ITA) bt Lucie Safarova (CZE x27) 4-6 6-4 6-4
Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) bt Ana Ivanovic (SRB x12) 6-3 6-3
Eva Birnerova (CZE) bt Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) 6-3 6-4
Michelle Larcher De Brito (POR) bt Maria Sharapova (RUS x3) 6-3, 6-4

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